FENTON EWING AND CATALINA EWING, A/K/A CATRINA EWING, APPELLANTS,
v.
A-1 MANAGEMENT, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, D/B/A A-1 BAIL BONDS, GENE R. SHRYOCK; FLORIDA BAIL BONDS, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION; AND INDEMNITY INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA, A NEW YORK INSURANCE COMPANY AUTHORIZED TO DO BUSINESS IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEES
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The court held that there is no cause of action for invasion of privacy when the plaintiffs voluntarily involved themselves in the matter and the publication served a legitimate public interest in apprehending a fugitive.
Defendants posted a bail bond for plaintiffs' son, who then jumped bail. Plaintiffs pledged collateral and signed an indemnity agreement. Defendants p…
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PER CURIAM.
This is an appeal from a final summary judgment entered in favor of the defendants in an invasion of privacy action. We affirm.
The gravamen of the right of privacy claim herein is the publication of the plaintiffs’ names and addresses, as parents of a fugitive from justice, on a wanted poster distributed by the defendant surety company after the plaintiffs’ son jumped bail on certain illegal drug charges. The defendants had posted a bail bond on these charges in the amount of $250,000 for the plaintiffs’ son; the plaintiffs, in turn, pledged certain collateral to the defendants to secure the bail bond and signed an indemnity agreement in favor of the defendants.
Under these circumstances, there can be no cause of action for invasion of privacy because: (a) the plaintiffs voluntarily involved themselves in the entire matter of their son’s bail bond by pledging collateral and signing an indemnity agreement on the subject bond and cannot now complain about the use of their names and addresses in a wanted poster to secure their son’s arrest after the son jumped bail; (b) the entire matter of the son jumping bond was an event in which the public had a legitimate interest, to wit: securing a criminal fugitive’s, arrest, as to which the subject publication played a useful role in properly identifying the fugitive; and (c) Section 540.08, Florida Statutes (1983) has no application to this case because the defendants’ wanted poster fell within the exemption provisions of subsection (3)(a) of the above statute. See Cason v. Baskin, 155 Fla. 198, 215, 20 So. 2d 243, 251 (1944); see also Valentine v. C.B.S., Inc., 698 F. 2d 430 (11th Cir.1983).
Affirmed.
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Tyne v. Time Warner Ent. Co., L.P., 901 So. 2d 802 (Fla. 2005)…ned in section 540.08(3)(a) and (b) superfluous. Applying the statute to only those situations that “directly promote a product or service” does not necessarily mean that the use is in an advertisement. For example, in Ewing v. A-1 Management, Inc., 481 So. 2d 99 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986), the defendants published the names and addresses of the plaintiffs as parents of a fugitive from justice on a wanted poster distributed by the defendant surety company after the plaintiffs son fled while on bail. The Third Distri…
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Fuentes v. Mega Media Holdings, Inc., 721 F. Supp. 2d 1255 (S.D. Fla. 2010)…laintiffs complaint are insufficient to state a cause of action under Florida Statute § 540.08. As support for his claim, Plaintiff cites to Nottage v. American Express Co., 452 So.2d 1066 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) and Ewing v. A-l Mgm’t, Inc., 481 So.2d 99 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). In Nottage, the plaintiff set forth a claim for commercial exploitation under the statute because the defendants used his likeness on a poster advertising their condominium building and on postcards that were mailed to pote…
Authorities Cited
- Zelma Cason v. Baskin, 155 Fla. 198 (Fla. 1944)
- Valentine v. C.B.S., Inc., 698 F.2d 430 (11th Cir. 1983)